Safety wallet or like article of manufacture



Oct. 13, 1959 w. CHOROST SAFETY WALLET OR LIKE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTUREFiled Sept. 11, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. WILLIAM C'HOROST BY MMATTORNEY 15 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. WJLLMJM 0110x052- ATTORNEY Oct. 13,1959 w. CHOROST SAFETY WALLET OR LIKE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE Filed Sept.11, 1957 Oct. 13, 1959 Filed Sept. 11, v1957 w. CHOROST 1 2,908,306

SAFETY WALLET 0R LIKE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 UnitedStates Patent f SAFETY WALLET OR LIKE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE WilliamChorost, Rockaway, NJ.

Application September '11, 1957, Serial No. 683,364 6 Claims. (Cl.150-47) This invention relates to wallets, billfolds and like articlesof manufacture, and the main object of the invention is the provision ofcertain new and-useful improvements therein whereby the security of thewallet against accidental lose or theft as, for example, by apickpocket, is very substantially enhanced.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved wallet,billfold or the like having extensible means slidably mounted in andpermanently anchored in the Wallet and having means thereon for readilyattaching it to a support such as, for example, the belt of the user, ora suspender strap, or other suitable support preferably at'or nearthewaist of the user, so that with the wallet nested in a pocket, such as ahip pocket, loss from, orextraction by a pickpocket from, the pocket,will not mean loss of the wallet because of its securement to thesupport mentioned.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of improvements ofthe nature set forth above for wallets, billfolds or the like, wherebythe user of the wallet may remove it from the pocket and open it to.take out or put in any money paper, card or memorandum, without havingto detach the said extensible means from the support to which it isattached, thus further assuring the user against inadvertent losing ormislaying the wallet.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of theabove-mentioned extensible means in the form of a strip of springy orflexible and rather stiff material or metal such as, for example, steel,preferably covered with leather or other suitable material, so that thestrip is not only readily slidable within the wallet but also that thestrip may not easily be severed as with a knife or scissors by apickpocket.

A further object is the provision of a guide tunnel in one side or wallof the wallet, extending substantially through both wings thereof, thesaid strip normally registering in the entire length of the tunnel,whence the springy stripv normally urgesthe two wings of the Wallet tounfold.

The above as well as additional and more specific objects will beclarified in the following description whereinreferencenumerals refer tolike-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is-to be understoodthat the drawing is intended solely for the purpose of illustration andthat it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the inventionnecessarily toany or all of the exact details illustrated or describedexcept insofar as they maybe deemed essential to the invention asdefined in the appended claims. i

. Referring briefly to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a fragmentaryfperspectiveview of a persons trousers or the like including a portion containing ahip pocket, showing a Wallet provided withthe security means presentedby the present invention.

uFig. 2. is a sectional'view taken on the line 22 of .,Fig.E1 .x Y a2,908,306 Patented Oct. 13, 1959 Fig. 3 is a top plan View of theimproved wallet in belt of the user, showing how the wallet may beremoved from the hip pocket to extract anything therefrom or to placeanything into it, without detaching the safety strip from its support.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 3.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates a wallet,billfold or like article of the type having two wings 11 and 12 mutuallyfoldable about a fold 13 and normally carried in a pocket or purse infolded condition, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the wallet 'being unfoldedin approximately the condition shown in Fig. 6 to gain access to thepockets or pocket-like compartments therein such as indicated, forexample, at 14.

Such wallets, as is Well known, are usually formed of an outer wall 15and one or more layers of inner walls, of which one layer is indicatedat 16, the Walls 15 and 16 being secured together around their edges byany suitable means. A lining or additional layer 17 is provided againstthe inner side of the wall 15, also secured thereto around the edges inany desired manner. An elongated tunnel 18 is formed along onelongitudinal edge of the unfolded wallet by, for example, spacedlongitudinal stitching lines 19, the tunnelbeing closed at one end bystitching 20 and being open at its other end 21-.

Near the open end 21 of the tunnel, the stitching lines 1%! are closertogether-to provide a reduced end portion 18:: of narrower width.

Slidably mounted in the tunnel 18 is a thin strip-of springy materialwhich may be steel, preferably coated with leather or other suitablefabric, the strip, including the steel and the coating being shown at22; in Fig. 2 the steel strip is shown at 23 and its coating at 24. Theportion 25 of the tunnel at which the end portion 18a begins to bereduced in width, tapers substantially as shown. The rear or tail end ofthe strip 22 is widened as shown at 26 and has its opposed sides 27tapered or rounded approximately complementary to the. tapering tunnelportion 25. Thus the enlarged end 26 provides an anchor to prevent thestrip from being extracted through the open end 21 of the tunnel.

The outer end of the strip 22 is provided with means adapted to securethe strip to a support such as, for example, a belt 28 worn by the user,in any suitable manner. One way of securing the strip to the beltconsists in elon gating the strip and providing one element 29 of a snapbutton closure near the extremity of theend portion 22a of the strip andsecuring the other element 30 thereof on.

tate the buttoningof thestrip to the belt or other support by encirclingthe same. A second snap button element similar to the element30 may beprovided, as indicatedat 32, on the outer wall 15 of the wing 11, sothat when the.

wallet is closed and not'positio ned inf the pocket'of the? 9 user, theportion 22a may be snapped in buttoning'posfl tion against the said wallportion. This would be the case, a

for example, when the wallets are packaged or otherwise on sale, or whena person for any reason does not wish to use the strip 22 to attach theWallet to a support of the kind mentioned.

When the two wings of the wallet are folded'together, the inherentresiliency of the steel strip 23 will tend to swing them apart on thefold 13 of the wallet, that is when the strip 22 is fully homeregistering in the tunnel, 18. This is the case for the wallet asillustrated in Fig. 3. However, since the steel strip will always tendsubstantially to straighten out, this will also be the case when thewallet is folded with even a small portion of the length of the stripextending from the wing 12 through the wing 11 for a distance, as isobvious. Hence, when the wallet is folded and positioned in a pocket 33of the user, the tendency of the steel to straighten out will cause theWings 11 and 12 to be urged against the opposed Walls of the pocket.Consequently the wallet will be securely wedged between the pocket wallsto make falling out of the wallet almost impossible and at the same timemake it difficult for a pickpocket to extract it. A further advantage ofthe steel strip 23 is that, when the wallet is removed from the pocket,the steel will tendto unfold the wings 11 and 12 and thus aid in givingaccess to the wallet by opening it as well as permitting sliding out ofthe strip 22 when the wallet is withdrawn, as shown in Fig. 6, asufficient distance to conveniently handle the contents thereof.

Although not shown in the drawing, wallets, billfolds and the likeusually are fattened by the contents thereof, such as currency, cards,bank checks and other items. As a consequence the wallet at the fold 13is substantially thickened so that the steel strip 23 will also berounded at the fold 13 and thus tend to prevent the formation of apermanent bend at that point. After manufacture of a wallet, it may bepadded with tissue paper or some other filler to simulate a filledwallet and thus also prevent such a permanent bend in the steel prior toits sale.

After the wallet has been used, and owing to the stiffness of the steel,it is obviously easy to slide the strip 22 back home in its tunnel 18prior to refolding it and placing it back into the users pocket.

Although the improved wallet presented by the present invention has beenillustrated as adapted for use in connection with a person and a pocketin his clothing, it is to be understood that the wallet may also be usedby women in a hand bag and particularly for keeping the wallet in apocket of the hand bag so long as the bag has any suitable strap orother support to which the outer end of the strip 22 may be secured inany suitable manner.

From all of the above it is apparent that a pickpocketproof andaccidental loss-proof improved wallet, billfold' dividing the same intotwo wings foldable about the fold line, two transversely spacedlongitudinal portions of said lining extending substantially throughoutthe length thereof between the transverse edges thereof being secured tothe outer wall thereby providing a tunnel in the wallet, one end of saidtunnel being positioned at one transverse edge of'the wallet and beingopen, the other end of the tunnel being positioned adjacent the othertransverse edge of the wallet and being closed, a normally substantiallystraight strip of'springy material slidably mounted in said tunnel andhaving a length greater than the length of the tunnel so that the outerend of the strip protrudes from 4 the open end of the tunnel, meanspartly on the strip and partly in the tunnel restraining the strip fromextraction from the tunnel, the outer end of the strip having means forsecuring the same to a support.

2. A wallet or like article of manufacture according to claim 1, saidtunnel being positioned closely adjacent one longitudinal edge of thewallet,

3. A wallet or like article of manufacture including an elongatedsubstantially rectangular outer wall and having a fold line intermediateits length dividing the same into two wings foldable about the foldline, a longitudinal sheet of reduced width compared to the width of thewallet and of substantially the same length of the wallet having itslongitudinal edges secured to the inner surface of said outer wallparallel with the longitudinal edges of the outer wall thereby providinga tunnel in the wallet, one end of the tunnel terminating at onetransverse edge of the wallet and being open, the other end of saidtunnel havig the corresponding end of said sheet secured to said outerwall to close the other end of the tunnel, a normally substantiallystraight strip of springy material of greater length than the tunnelslidably mounted in the tunnel, means partly on the strip and partly onthe interior of said tunnel restraining the strip from completeextraction from the tunnel, the outer end of the strip having means forattaching the same to a support.

4. A wallet or like article of manufacture according to claim 3, saidlast-named means comprising a two-element snap button, one of theelements of the button being mounted on the strip near the outerextremity of the strip and the other of said elements being mounted onthe strip spaced from said one of the elements, the portion of the stripbetween said elements being adapted to encircle said support and to havesaid elements interengaged to lock said portion to the support, saidportion of the strip between said elements having a transverse bendtherein intermediate the distance between the elements normally bendingsaid portion between the bend and said one of the elements in adirection toward doubling back the same against the strip to facilitateinterengagement of the elements.

5. A wallet or like article of manufacture including an elongatedsubstantially rectangular outer wall having. a fold line intermediateits length dividing the same into two wings foldable about the foldline, a longitudinal tunnel of lesser width than the width of the walletprovided on the inner side of said outer wall and positionedsubstantially parallel with the longitudinal edges of said wall, saidtunnel having one end thereof adjacent one transverse edge of the walletand closed and having the other end thereof positioned at the othertransverse edge of the wallet and open, a normally substantiallystraight strip of springy material of greater length than the tunnelslidably mounted in the tunnel, means partly on the strip and partly onthe interior of the tunnel restraining the strip from extraction fromthe tunnel, the outer end of said strip having means for attaching thesame to a support comprising a permanent transverse bend therein spacedfrom the extremity thereof normally bending the portion of the stripbetween said bend and said extremity in a direction toward doubling backthereof against the strip, the

distance between said bend and said extremity being larger stantiallyintermediate its length dividing the same intotwo wings foldable aboutthe fold line, two transverselyspaced longitudinal portions of saidlining extending from one transverse edge of the wallet on one of saidwings past said fold line and terminating in the other of said wingsbeing secured to the outer wall thereby providing a longitudinal tunnelin the wallet of greater length than the length of said one of thewings, the end of the tunnel at said one transverse edge being open, anormally substantially straight strip of springy material slidablymounted in said tunnel and having a length at least equal to the lengthof the tunnel, the outer end of the strip having means for securing thesame to a support, and means partly on the strip and partly in thetunnel restraining the ship from complete extraction from the tunnel,said tunnel having the end thereof which terminates in the other of saidwings closed, said strip having a length greater than the length of saidtunnel and therein having the outer end thereof projecting from the openend of the tunnel when the strip is moved inward to said closed end ofthe tunnel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

